Almost perfect barrier draws set stage for $110k Dawson Harford Taylor Mile

Just Believe (far left) winning the TAB Trot at Cambridge on April 12, 2024.

An almost perfect set of barrier draws has turned Friday’s $110,000 Dawson Harford Taylor Mile into one of the races of the season.

The $110,000 sprint will highlight one of Alexandra Park’s biggest nights of the year sitting alongside feature races for almost all grades, from country cups handicappers to juvenile pacers and trotters and the open class square gaiters.

The latter, the $60,000 Lone Star Lyell Creek Stakes, looks a gift for Aussie hero Just Believe after his last-start victory in the $600,000 TAB Trot slot race.

His fellow Australian trotters who finished second to fourth behind him that night have all returned to Australia, while arguably New Zealand’s best trotter Muscle Mountain is being allowed to miss Friday’s race but will contest next week’s National Trot.

That leaves New Zealand Trotter of the Year Oscar Bonavena, who was only sixth behind Just Believe at Cambridge, as his greatest danger in the 2200m mobile so the Victorian trotter will start red-hot.

While it will be Just Believe’s first right-handed race, driver Greg Sugars is confident he will handle it.

“He may not have raced that way around but he has worked a lot right-handed at home and always been fine,” says Sugars.

“I don’t think it will be an issue and I’d like to dominate the race and get him up against the markers [in front] which I think will make him even more confident right-handed.”

While Just Believe should win the open trot, the Taylor Mile is beautifully confusing after many of the biggest names drew the second line.

Race by Grins winner Merlin will start from one on the second line, with arch rival and Grins runner-up Don’t Stop Dreaming drawing three on the second line.

In between them will be Queensland pacer Speak The Truth, with South Coast Arden and Better Eclipse outside him.

“We just can’t get a draw,” says Sugars, who drives Better Eclipse.

“All we can hope is they go hard but it is always hard over the short trip from the second line.”

Merlin’s position may be the most precarious for his army of fans because he goes into the race with a string of wins and almost certainly as New Zealand’s best pacer.

But his winning chances on Friday may depend on what those around and in front of him do as much as his own performance.

Adding to the Taylor Mile drama and intrigue is the gate speed from Kango (3) and Sooner The Better (5) that could make for early fireworks, the addition of impressive mid-grader Jolimont (4) and veteran superstar Self Assured drawing seemingly perfectly at barrier two.

The new class of 4-year-olds in Merlin, Don’t Stop Dreaming and Sooner The Better have dominated their open class rivals here since December, winning the Franklin Cup, City Of Auckland Free-For-All (Don’t Stop Dreaming), Flying Mile and Race By Grins (both Merlin) - while Sooner The Better finished second in the Miracle Mile.

For either Merlin or Don’t Stop Dreaming to continue that on Friday will require either luck or for one of the pair to do something special, as the Taylor Mile is traditionally the hardest race in New Zealand to win from back in the field.

Friday’s meeting kicks off a huge month for Alexandra Park, with the most of this week’s key combatants also racing there next Friday and plenty also being aimed at the Auckland and Rowe Cups meeting on May 24.

Friday Features: Alexandra Park’s huge night

R4: $75,000 NZBS Harness Million Trot

R5: $20,000 Young Guns heat

R6: $70,000 Gallagher Insurance Delightful Lady Classic

R7: $110,000 Dawson Harford Taylor Mile
R8: $40,000 Classique Landscapes Final

R9: $60,000 Lone Star Lyell Creek

Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.